Dear Mom,

As another Mother’s Day dawns – which you and I don’t celebrate since, “Every day is Mother’s Day for us”, as you often quip – I still find myself compelled to pen this letter to you. To pour my heart out with extreme gratitude as not only the head and founder of Taevo Publishing, but as the innovator, creator, author, and lover of books that you, my mother and true inspiration, raised me to be.

My introduction to the portals that allow me to traverse any world I want (books) – be they fiction or non-fiction – can be traced back to you, your brilliant mind, and voracious appetite for reading, especially while pregnant with me. As you nurtured a growing little me inside of your womb, you also nurtured your mind while you studied to earn your degree in criminal justice.

Perhaps that’s why I have such a high moral compass, or why it’s so hard for me to keep my mouth shut when I notice something wrong.

And my fondest memories growing up consist of my staring up at our tall bookcase, perusing through all of the different colored book spines, then grabbing one to read. I read adult fiction as a child unbeknownst to you, but I want to thank you for that exposure, as the prose improved my writing and sharpened my inquisitive mind.

Whatever the case, each of those characteristics that I have named so far, you possess them all. And what’s best is, you selflessly passed them on to me… and I thank you for that and so much more, because without those gifts, Taevo Publishing would not exist.

At fourteen years old, I witnessed you publish your very first book through a vanity publisher. Seeing what you went through then and knowing that Black writers still face the same challenges has ignited a fire within me to change this publishing infrastructure. Because you refused to accept the rejections and boldly pressed forward to ensure that your creative energy would take root, that inspired me.

That seed within you did take root. And from the time I was fourteen, it bloomed, then blossomed into a flower that would unknowingly plant the seeds of a publishing house a decade later. That tenacity of my strong-willed mother witnessed by a teenage version of myself is what powers me today whenever I get scared.

You inadvertently showed me what my calling was. Not to just elevate the voices of BIPOC women writers, but to use the gifts you gave me to combine the forces of Black publishing professionals and build an indestructible, self-sustaining Black publishing eco-system.

You have given me so much more than life and love (which is pretty much all I, as your daughter, could have ever asked for in the first place). You gave me wings to fly during those periods when mine were broken by life’s challenges and struggles. You gave me faith in myself, but more importantly, in the Most High Creator. You constantly remind me to not only humble myself to the greater Creator that we all come from, but to be thankful that God has never left me during the darkest times.

It’s not easy to run a publishing house with a traditional model – one where the money flows from the publisher to the author, never from the author to the publisher – but you trusted me with your books, and let Taevo give your very first book, Abused and Abandoned (the one published by a vanity publisher), the ‘Cinderella effect’, and through trial and error, we successfully transformed it into what it is today. And the powerful message coupled with the sales of that book are what continue to give our publishing house the life force needed to push forward.

When we lost our first author, then our second author, and finally had to let go of every author on our roster and restructure our entire production timeline, you were the author who not only stood by Taevo, but handed us your second manuscript, Too Late to Turn Back. When I complained that it was hand-written, you simply replied, “Didn’t you all want more practice in… what was it called? Typesetting?” (We did.)

You challenged me to keep learning the deepest, most intricate parts of this business like rights, contracts, production standards for various formats like print and audiobook, and all the other “unsexy” parts of publishing. You compelled me to practice and sharpen my understanding using your books until I mastered them all, and could truly stand, speak, and teach as an expert in my field by the time we published your third book, Love Guides Me.

You’ve always been my biggest cheerleader, and there are no words to thank you for everything you’ve done for me and for Taevo Publishing. We were born because of you.

We exist because of you.

We have survived because of you.

And we continue to fight and grow because of you.

Thank you for molding me into a Reader, a Truthseeker, a Writer, a Publisher, a Table Shaker, a Boss, and a Caretaker. I am a great mom because of you.

Thank you for always supporting Taevo and the voices of so many Black writers.

I promise to always do the same.

Love always,

Your loving daughter.
Tamara Mayo
Founder and CEO, Taevo Publishing